A/N: Just a few quick words: Davey Gudgeon! hahaha I had to put him in. And I forgot about Hagrid, so he'll be in the next chapter, along with the Order member. Snape and Dumbledore will be in the last chapter. And then that's it! Enjoy!

"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year!" said Davey Gudgeon over the megaphone. "Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw!" Cheers erupted from the stands as the teams swooped out.

James flew out to the center of the pitch. He scanned the crowd, and easily spotted his friends. They were the ones shooting red and gold sparks into the air. The only difference was that Lily was there as well, jumping up and down and shouting encouragements.

He did a loop-de-loop to settle his nerves. He couldn't stop thinking about that kiss. He knew he was in for it. No matter how many times he reminded himself that it wasn't real, a small voice in his head protested that she must have some feelings for him.

Madam Hooch had released the bludgers and snitch, and he ordered himself to pay attention. She threw the quaffle. He leaned forward, dodged the Ravenclaw captain, grabbed the quaffle, and raced toward the goal posts.

He passed the quaffle to the new Chaser, the one with the name he could never seem to remember. Whoever-it-was scored through the left hoop, and the stands exploded with cheers again.

If he listened carefully, he could swear that he heard Lily's shouts above the rest.

A bludger shot past his arm, and he pulled back. He glared at the Ravenclaw Beater. His aim was poor. He needed to practice.

That's it! he realized, before tearing down the pitch.

Gryffindor was celebrating their victory in the common room, but James wasn't in the mood. He kept watching Lily, trying to figure out the best time to put his plan into action. She was laughing at some joke Sirius had said, butterbeer in one hand, the other moving as she talked.

"Are we losing you?" asked Peter, waving a pudgy hand in front of James' face. He started, and looked around guiltily. Then decided it was now or never.

"I'm just a little tired," he said. "Quidditch isn't as easy as it looks, you know." He put his own butterbeer down on the table. "G'night," he said, but at the last second, when he was about to pass Lily, he winked. She looked confused.

The others laughed. Sirius had probably made some joke at his expense, but he'd missed it. He smiled anyway, just in case, as he headed up the stairs.

The door had just closed behind him, and he was just settling on his bed, when he heard the footsteps on the stone steps. There was a knock, and then the door was pushed open. Lily stuck her head in, checked to make sure they were alone, then slid in and closed the door.

"What was that?" she asked, not nicely.

"What was what?" he asked, making a big show of cleaning his area of the room.

"You winked at me," she accused.

"I had something in my eye."

"Don't lie to me, James Potter." She took a step forward into the room, but started to giggle. "Oh, I give up," she said, crossing over to him. "What do you want?"

"You do realize, that if you go on acting like this, no one will ever believe that we're dating."

She reddened slightly. "Of course they will…"

"I don't see why not," he replied, dumping several books into his trunk. "We don't act like any of the other couples, snogging in the hallways at all hours."

"We're just more mature," she said, but unsure of it herself. The look he gave her confirmed this. She sighed. "Fine. We can kiss some more. But just enough to be convincing."

He hesitated dramatically, giving the pause the length it deserved. "That's not good enough."

"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.

He sighed, trying to find the best way to explain this. "We've been 'going out' for, what, a month now?"

"Three weeks," she corrected, reddening again.

"Three weeks," he agreed. "People assume that we've been kissing all along, but we haven't. We've only kissed once. And now that we're thinking about filling up some kissing quotas, we're going to find each one more awkward than the last. And that's not exactly appealing."

She waited for him to continue. When he didn't, she said, "So I guess you have an answer for that as well?"

He nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. "Practice kissing."

She laughed. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me: practice kissing. We practice, we get more comfortable with the situation, when we kiss for real, in public, no one will think that we think that it's awkward, because it won't be." He took a step closer.

"This is possibly the craziest idea you've ever come up with," she protested.

"Do you have a better one?" He took another step, until he was only a few inches from her.

She considered this. James knew how far-fetched it sounded. It made sense, logically, but not if you thought about it for too long. He didn't want to give her the time to think about it for too long.

"So?"

In answer, Lily grinned, and closed the gap between them. This time James started the kiss, keeping it slow and gentle, even though he really didn't want to.

But he didn't have to wait long before she sped things up. They even moved toward the bed and fell into it.

"I'd say get a room," said an amused voice from the doorway. They sprang apart and stared at Sirius, who was leaning on the doorframe. "But it looks like you've already found one," he finished. He went over to his bed and dug out some candy.

"It's not…" sputtered Lily. "We were just…p-practicing…"

Sirius smiled. "Of course you were," he said. "I'll just lock this for you, shall I?" he added, and closed the door.

Lily and James stared at each other in shock, then laughed for a long time. Practice was over.